ECP NetHappenings Say No to School Vouchers

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❌NO to vouchers! ❌NO to vouchers! ❌NO to vouchers!

School vouchers have never been about helping disadvantaged kids.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed through a voucher scheme to allow legally segregated schools. In some cases tuition is double the $6,600 voucher at $13,900. They’ve never wanted integration.
Public schools were designed as the great equalizers of our society – the place where all children could have access to educational opportunities to make something of themselves in adulthood.

Immediately after Brown vs Board of Education the white southern population refused to integrate their schools so our President Johnson sent in the military to help children cross the color line.

While the direct impact of stopping student tracking within voucher programs is not extensively studied, the broader research on voucher programs indicates generally negative effects on math test scores, with no clear positive effects on English scores.

Voucher Program Effects: Research indicates that voucher programs may not only fail to improve test scores but can also lead to a concentration of disadvantaged students in public schools, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities.

Math Scores Decline: Studies, such as one from the University of Arkansas, have shown that students who use vouchers to attend private schools often experience lower math test scores compared to their peers in public schools. These negative effects persist for years, even up to four years into the program.

Vouchers are the education equivalent of predatory lending. 70% of voucher users were in chosen private schools already. The few who do transfer are funneled into sub-prime private schools with horrific outcomes—on part with COVID19 or Katrina learning loss.

Vouchers is the tool for racists to continue their racism and it’s very effective to gut public school education.

Diane Ravitch @DianeRavitch
Aug 15, 2024
Private school vouchers: Scholarships last school year cost Ohio $966.2 million – and counting https://cleveland.com/news/2024/08/private-school-vouchers-scholarships-last-school-year-cost-ohio-9662-million-and-counting.html cost of vouchers jumps from $124 million to $966 million, after state removed income limits. Most vouchers used by kids already in private schools.

Diane Ravitch @DianeRavitch
https://x.com/DianeRavitch/status/1869868119306408032
Dec 19, 2024
In every state, the majority of kids who use vouchers never attended public schools. They are already enrolled in religious, other private schools. Arizona has 1.1 million students. Anyone can get a voucher. 60,000 did. 70% are already in private schools. Welfare for mid-class.

Diane Ravitch interviews Josh Cowen, education professor at Michigan State University. He has researched private school vouchers for 20 years and concludes that vouchers have been a disaster. You can view the video interview
Diane Ravitch’s closing remarks after her discussion with Josh Cowen about his new book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.

“We should have smaller class sizes, we
should have better paid teachers, schools
should have the resources they need to
provide the very best education
regardless of their economic status. But
instead of funding our public schools,
large amounts of money are being
diverted in NC, AZ, OH, FL, and many
other states to subsidize the tuition of
rich kids. This is not good public policy, it
is vicious public policy.”

The Dixon-DeVos school voucher scheme would slash $500 million from public schools and leave our kids behind. Michigan families deserve better.

School vouchers just died in Idaho – in part because the sales pitch is colliding w/ the reality of what’s happening in other states. These programs are budget busters that pick up the tab for affluent parents who already send their kids to private schools

Billionaire BETSY DeVoss gets Covid-19 cash for her own charter schools.

School vouchers are being presented as fresh thinking and a way to drive educational innovation via the free market. But you can go back the original civil rights backlash and find the exact same policy, the same argument (and similar results) Here’s Louisiana:

States, or FOCUS. Advocates for “choice” sought government reimbursement for private-school tuition costs, in the name of allowing the free market to drive educational innovation. The free market, unsurprisingly, widened the very inequalities that public education aims to narrow. Between 1962 and 1966, for instance, Louisiana distributed more than fifteen thousand tuition vouchers in New Orleans; in 1966, ninety four per cent of the funds went to white parents.

ECP NetHappenings Authoritarians consolidate power and create chaos

In Ohio, as they provide more than a billion in vouchers largely to families that already were attending private schools (and could already afford them), they just announced they won’t have the funds to fully fund public education.

Ohio is trying to fund three separate school systems: traditional public schools, less accountable charters (some for-profit), and fully unaccountable voucher/private schools. The wheels are coming off of an approach guaranteed to fail.

Most voucher users were already in private school, and states can’t afford two education sectors. It doesn’t matter if vouchers use state budget lines outside of school aid funds. It’s ultimately all the same pot and eventually the check comes due.

Vouchers are costing states millions MORE and are breaking their budgets.

❌NO to vouchers!
❌NO to vouchers!
❌NO to vouchers!

Since most of the voucher recipient students are already in private schools it will almost impossible to prove that the extra expenditure improves outcomes … and absolutely impossible since auditing is blocked.

Vouchers (also known as “School Choice, Educational Savings Accounts, etc) are just another scheme to defund our public schools.

I want to learn golf, but the public course lessons have less than 50% proficiency rate. The private course has a 70% proficiency rate. I have a much better chance to learn golf there, but I can’t afford it. So, I want to take my tax dollars to the private course (vouchers).

I don’t really like the city parks.
I want to join a country club so my kid doesn’t have to play with “those” kids and I want the city parks system to pay for my membership.
School Vouchers in a nutshell.

Florida is up to FOUR BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS FOR VOUCHERS.
It’s insanity.

Louisiana now mandates that a poster-size display Of
the Ten Commandments in large easily readable font,
” be required in all public classrooms.

ALL TEACHERS CAN PRINT THIS OUT AND HANG IT UP

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ECP NetHappenings Do you have you IRS Identity Protection PIN

Get your IRS Identity Protection PIN now

Scammers file first — Get your IRS Identity Protection PIN now
The IRS relaunched its Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) program this week and all US taxpayers are encouraged to enroll for added security against identity theft and fraudulent returns.

An Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) is a six-digit number assigned to a taxpayer that must be used when filing a tax return. This number is only valid for the current year, with a new one assigned each tax year.
As this PIN is only known to you, your accountant (if not self-filing), and the IRS, it prevents scammers from filing a tax return using your Social Security Number and personal information.

US taxpayers who previously suffered tax-related identity theft are automatically enrolled in the program. However, the IRS also strongly recommends all taxpayers apply to the Identity Protection PIN program to proactively protect themselves from fraudulent returns that attempt to steal their tax refunds.

For those enrolled, the IRS began notifying taxpayers this week that their 2025 IP PIN is available in their account on the IRS website. If you are not enrolled, you should do so immediately to prevent scammers from filing a return in your name before you submit your legitimate return.

The IRS Identity Protection Personal Identification Number program is even more critical this year, with over 100 million people’s Social Security Numbers exposed in the massive National Public Data data breach.

Last year, the IRS’s Taxpayer Protection Program (TPP) flagged 2.8 million tax returns as suspicious, making this a threat worth avoiding.

How to Obtain an IP PIN

Taxpayers can obtain an Identity Protection PIN by creating an account on the IRS website and verifying their identity through ID.me.

Once the account has been verified and you are logged in, you can click the Profile link. When you are on your profile page, scroll down and opt into the Identity Protection PIN program.

When opting in, you will have the option to select either “Continuous enrollment” (receive one every year) or “One-time enrollment” (only for the current calendar year). It is suggested that you select continuous enrollment to obtain an IP PIN every year.

Those unable to register online can also request a PIN by submitting Form 15227 as long as your adjusted gross income is $79,000 or less or $158,000 or less for those married filing jointly. You can also schedule an in-person appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center.

Not registering an account and submitting Form 15227 may be the safest route, as you will be protected from potential infostealer infections stealing the credentials for your IRS account.

Once enrolled, you will either receive your IP Ping in the mail in a CP01A notice or via your IRS account if you have one. This IP PIN should be kept private and only shared with your accountant if they are helping you file your return.

The IRS advises taxpayers to enroll as early as they can in a calendar year, as cybercriminals commonly attempt to send their tax returns in before taxpayers submit their own.

In many cases, taxpayers do not realize that they suffered tax-related identity theft until they try to file a return and find out that someone has already filed one under their Social Security Number.

An IP PIN is free to obtain, requiring only some time to set up an account. However, it can save you days of frustrating and stressful work trying to resolve identity theft if a fraudulent return is filed under your Social Security Number.

Identity Protection PIN program to protect yourself against fraudulent tax returns.

ECP NetHappenings Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)

Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)

Biden Administration 11:59 PM interpretive rule drop:

@BillHughesDC TLDR: in order to protect consumers and to avoid a competitive advantage to new forms of electronic fund transfers over traditional ones, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) should be reinterpreted to apply to crypto.

Specifically, “virtual currency wallets” that can hold and transfer fungible tokens and stablecoins should be considered a consumer account that is regulated by the CFPB.

Under this regime, the wallet provider and not the consumer would be responsible for any “unauthorized transfers” including “transfers initiated by a person who obtained a consumer’s access device through fraud or robbery . . . [or] when a bad actor obtains a consumer’s account credential through computer hacking or other forms of cyber theft and uses that credential to steal funds.”

Hacked because you tweeted you emailed your seed phrase or believed that fashion model in Malaysia needed 5000 bucks to fly to see you? Don’t worry your wallet might have to cover it . . .

Wallet providers also would be required to provide disclosures and terms and conditions when the consumer first uses their product. “The disclosures must include a summary of various consumer rights . . . including the consumer’s liability for unauthorized EFTs, the types of EFTs the consumer may make, limits on the frequency or dollar amount, fees charged by the financial institution, and the error-resolution procedures. . . . also require[d is providing] regular, periodic statements, and change-in-terms notices.”

So should wallet providers (both custodial and non-custodial) now be financial institutions for purposes of the EFTA? The CFPB says they don’t need to ask the public what they think but are doing so anyway (how courteous of them) through the end of March 2025.

And you thought the Warranties were done with us, didn’t you? Their co-opting of crypto under the banner of consumer protection (who can argue with protecting consumers after all?) won’t stop until someone stops it. And that someone is the next President of the United States. So add this to the list of “law by decree” problems that need to be fixed.

BILLING CODE: 4810-AM-PCONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU12 CFR Part 1005[CFPB-2025-0003]
Electronic Fund Transfers Through Accounts Established Primarily for Personal, Family,
or Household Purposes Using Emerging Payment Mechanisms

Comments

Lord_Wette @ID_NOT_WETTE
Awesome, infinite money glitch… dudes can just fund wallet with $1m bucks, “get hacked”, and now they will have $2m bucks – $1m they control in new wallet which “hacked” them and another $1m owed to them by wallet provider. Rinse and Repeat. Genius legislation.

Chris Housser @TheChrisHousser
You create a metamask wallet. You write your seed words down on your computer. You are hacked. Seed words are compromised. Hacker moves your funds. It’s not clear the unauthorized transfer came from your metamask wallet. In fact it almost certainly didn’t. Good luck enforcing this

ECP NetHappenings Finney Freedom Prize

Bedtime prayer

If Trump should die
Before I wake
I pray O Lord
That news ain’t fake

HRF NAMES GREG MAXWELL & PIETER WUILLE 2025 FINNEY PRIZE WINNERS
LIVING #BITCOIN LEGENDS
The Human Rights Foundation announced the first Finney Freedom Prize, awarded each halving to those advancing Bitcoin and human rights!
Pieter Wuille and Greg Maxwell won this era’s prize for work on Bitcoin’s usability, scalability, and privacy!

MeidasTouch just exposed 44 Republicans for voting against the Forest Management Wildfire Prevention legislation in December.
This is how it’s done.

Tristan Snell
There is no such actual thing as presidential immunity.
It’s NOWHERE in the Constitution.
DOJ made it up in 1973 and 2000 to protect their bosses.
SCOTUS made it up more in 2024 to protect *their* boss and benefactor, Trump.
It is a cancerous, monarchical monstrosity.

@lesleyabravanel
I am old enough to remember when a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist wasn’t qualified for a job at McDonald’s–wait, they still aren’t—never mind President of the United States. Well done, AmeriKKKA, well done.

As a convicted felon,… Trump is now legally banned from visiting his own golf course in Scotland. Convicted felons are banned from traveling to,… the United Kingdom, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Iran, India, Russia, South Africa, Israel and Argentina, etc.

Robert Reich: Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 charges but won’t face any punishment — and will be back in the White House this month.
800 prisoners are now helping to battle Los Angeles fires, making as little as $5.80 per day.
A tale of two justice systems.

Only a rich white man could be found guilty of 34 felonies and be sentenced to NOTHING.
No jail, no probation, no fines, not even community service.
There were absolutely no consequences for his actions.
This proves that some people really are above the law.

Sam Biddle @samfbiddle
NEW: I’ve obtained internal Meta docs with examples of posts now allowed under new hate speech rules. Examples include calling children “trannies,” “Jews are flat out greedier than Christians,” and “immigrants are grubby, filthy pieces of shit”

Is it true, Mark? No fact checkers in place!
Meta BREAKING NEWS Mark Zuckerberg arrested for publicly masturbating his brand new rat penis at the pornographic theatre in Sarasota, Florida.
Meta Zuckerberg arrested in LA for trying to suck his own new rat penis at a Wendy’s.
Meta has deleted trans and nonbinary Messenger themes, as well as the blog posts announcing them. Happens the same week that it has changed its rules to allow users to say LGBTQ+ people are “mentally ill”

@_whitneywebb
The people who will use this podcast to tell you Zuckerberg has changed and is now ultra-based will also be selling you Meta’s metaverse, just give it a year or two.
Zuckerberg isn’t and will never be your friend and Facebook/Meta was always an operation of the NatSec state, see here:

UK counter-extremism unit investigates Elon Musk’s tweets for potential risks to Britain. Musk’s social media activity sparks fears of disinformation, extremism, and foreign interference in UK politics.

@BTCBreadMan Jan 9
I bought a kilo of gold in March 2023. The price was $74k, which was 3.33 BTC.
Today it is worth $86k, which is 0.92 BTC.
In ~2 years my gold bar’s value increased 16% in dollars.
But it LOST 72% OF ITS VALUE, priced in #Bitcoin.
Gold is COLLAPSING in front of our eyes.

North Dakota Considers Crypto Reserve as State Bitcoin Treasuries Gain Momentum

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